Blood Moon: A Story Before the Calamity

Chapter 17

     Zelda was in somewhere she had never been before. It was completely white all over, without a sky, without any boundaries, any walls. The floor was completely smooth, unnaturally smooth.

     This is a dream. It has to be.

     Why was she here? It was eerily quiet, silent. No sign of life anywhere.

     Suddenly, she turned around, a cold feeling prickling at the base of her spine. What she saw made her voice freeze in her throat.

     An ocean of malice, writhing and bubbling restlessly, the purple and black specks rising and dissolving in the air. And in the center, two spikes of concentrated malice trapped a figure on it, limbs trapped on the spikes. A spasm of fear charged down her spine, because she recognized him.

     Link.

     The malice was speaking, a deep, rumbling whisper that sounded like boiling water, frothing and steaming.

     "Little hero... So we meet again..."

     Link's head was down, casting his face into the shadows, lit up by the sickly light of malice.

     "Why so quiet, Link? Haven't you learned of the cost of silence by now, after so long?" A tendril of purple goop was rising out of the ocean, caressing Link's face almost gently.

     Link finally looked up, facing the tentacle with blue fire burning in his eyes.

     "Greetings, Ganondorf. I see you haven't changed from the last time we met."

     "This new form is quite something, isn't it?" From his tone, Ganondorf could have been talking about the weather. "So useful, not to be confined with the feeble limits of the living."

     "Spit it out, Ganon." Link snarled. "What do you want with me?"

     The laughter of malice was high, cruel, and frigid. "What do I want with you? Well, Link, this is your dream, after all. You found your way to me. Could it be..." A tone of mock surprise took over the chilling casualness. "You are wavering? I would not have believed it possible of one with such heroism in his blood."

     Zelda was confused, but Link flinched as if Ganondorf had struck a nerve.

     "Ah... so many secrets you keep underneath that mask of yours."

     The malice moved suddenly. It struck Link right across his face, leaving behind a deep, long wound from one cheek to the next. A soft, gasping sound escaped Link's lips. Zelda winced.

     "I am not wavering." Link spat. "What I do in my own life is none of your concern."

     "My, my. Such anger." Ganon cooed. "Such pain. Such defiance. Who would have thought, after millennia, you have not changed one bit, Link."

     "You can't hurt me anymore, Ganon. I am ready for you this time." The fire in his eyes burnt brighter, more intense.

     "Silly Link." There was laughter in Ganon's voice, a sort of malicious delight. "You don't know the one thing you crave, above everything else? You are, in fact, wavering. Doubting your own choices. Breaking underneath your statement of 'I am perfectly fine' which you have even managed to convince yourself is true. And so much pain. I have seldom seen such suffering in a Courage bearer before."

     Link was silent. Barely suppressed emotion was rising in his eyes.

    "What had this got to do with you?" He demanded. "What are you trying to say?"